Joel 1:8 (GNV)

Passage

Mourne like a virgine girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Nearby Context

Joel 1:6 Yea, a nation commeth vpon my lande, mightie, and without nomber, whose teeth are like the teeth of a lyon, and he hath the iawes of a great lyon.

Joel 1:7 He maketh my vine waste, and pilleth off the barke of my figge tree: he maketh it bare, and casteth it downe: ye branches therof are made white.

Joel 1:8 Mourne like a virgine girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Joel 1:9 The meate offring, and the drinke offring is cut off from the House of the Lord: the Priests the Lords ministers mourne.

Joel 1:10 The fielde is wasted: the lande mourneth: for the corne is destroyed: the new wine is dried vp, and the oyle is decayed.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mourne", "like", "virgine", "girded", "sackcloth", "husband", and "youth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mourne" and "like", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "He maketh my vine waste and pilleth..." into verse 9's "The meate offring and the drinke offring...", so "mourne" and "like" belong inside that flow. In Joel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mourne" and "like" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.